N°26 juillet-aout 2022 In a short space of time, the NATO summits, the BRICS meeting and the G7 have been held or are being held, not to mention the meetings of the European Union.
This intense activity has a direct link with the war in Ukraine and the consequences it entails in the military, energy and food fields and in general in international relations. The NATO summit held in Madrid has, according to its Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, major issues regarding its positioning in relation to an international crisis where the interests of the United States and European members are competing. For Jens Stolenberg, this will be the “turning point” summit which will have to define “a new era of strategic competition” and especially with China and Russia in the context of a high intensity war in Ukraine. From this point of view, NATO is working on a new "strategic concept" acceptable to the thirty allies, especially since the relationship with China, while it is clearly defined as the major adversary for the United States United, the countries of the European Union wish to stick to a more nuanced assessment.
This divergence will probably lead to the use of the word "challenge" to qualify the relationship with China. As for Russia, it will be presented as "the most important and most direct threat " against the security and values of the transatlantic area, as well as against the international order. The last strategic concept drawn up in 2010, which presented Russia as a “partner” country, has indeed been abandoned. The issues of strengthening the alliance in terms of means and integration will be at the center of the discussions. NATO plans to increase its operational capabilities from 60,000 men today to 300,000. The question of Sweden and Finland joining was on the agenda and was accepted by all NATO members. V. Zelensky, whose country is not a member of NATO, will intervene during this summit, clearly demonstrating the commitment and the will of the Ukrainian leaders to join the alliance, as well as the will of the US and NATO leaders to make Ukraine the front-runner in the conflict with the Russian Federation. In summary, this summit will reaffirm unfailing support for Ukraine, a strengthening of NATO's presence in Europe, an increase in military budgets and the adoption of the new strategic concept making China the clearly designated adversary. Thus this NATO summit is to reaffirm its character of an imperialist alliance dominated by the United States; its affirmed vocation is more and more an alliance aiming, for the United States to maintain their domination within the imperialist system.
The BRICS forum was an opportunity for Presidents Putin and Xi Jingpin to recall, in the context of intense international tension, the aim of this organization. It should be noted that the leaders of the BRICS extended participation in the forum by bringing together other participants: Algeria, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, Indonesia, Senegal. One of the characteristics of these countries – those of the BRICS and their guests, is, whatever their vote cast at the UN vis-à-vis the war launched against Ukraine by Russia, to refuse the sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies on the Russian Federation. We therefore see a major dividing line between the alliance around the United States of the main developed capitalist countries of the North and those, more or less developed of the South around a Russia-China axis. The latter intend to maintain a certain freedom of action because they are aware of the damage caused by the great capitalist powers of the North, the looting they have done and still do to them, not to mention the numerous military interventions that they claimed the right to perpetrate in the name of the fight against terrorism for democracy and human rights. However, the orientation of the BRICS does not deviate from the criterion of an imperialist alliance based on the development of capitalism. It was the Chinese president who was clearest in this regard, saying: "We should stay committed to openness and inclusiveness, eliminate all barriers to the development of productivity, and steer globalization in the right direction, guide and promote the healthy development of globalization, enable the free movement of capital and technology, and the full emergence of innovation and wisdom to bring together the synergy of global economic growth. We must defend the multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its heart, remove barriers to trade, investment and technology, and promote the construction of an open global economy. " and further: "China will continue to increase its level of openness to the outside world, establish a new high-level open economy system, and create an international business environment that respects the market and the rule of law."
The G7 meeting without appearing as a response to the BRICS forum was confronted with the same problems but from the point of view of States allied to the United States that constitute a powerful pole of imperialism. Unsurprisingly, the G7 has given strong support to Ukraine and is concerned about issues related to the circulation of foodstuffs, the current blockage of which threatens famine in many African countries, particularly in the Sahel and the Middle East. As at the BRICS forum, a number of non-G7 member states were invited. These are Indonesia, India, Senegal, South Africa and Argentina. Thus, each pole seeks to convince those hesitant to join one or the other of the imperialist poles. In this regard, the President of the United States, J. Biden, has announced a $600 billion five-year plan for developing countries to compete with China’s new silk roads program. However, the problem with the G7 is that it claims to represent a kind of executive board of the richest countries by omitting the second and seventh world powers, China and India. This is pointed out in the editorial of the newspaper Les Échos of June 27 which notes: "The first problem of the G7 is structural, it is its representativeness" and "the second problem is its usefulness. It has only a tribunician function. What has not been solved before, is never solved during". That is to say that the G7 only serves to dress up the strategic choices that are imposed by the United States.
All these meetings and forums underline that in the context that we know of an increase in tension and confrontations within the imperialist system, its major poles are working to increase their influence to better dominate and control mineral and agricultural resources, material and immaterial means of communication and labor power. The peoples have nothing good to expect from all this, because capitalism and its modern imperialist form are responsible for the exploitation of wage workers and peoples. The only way out is through the class struggle at the national and international level, to bring down this system and pave the way for peace and cooperation of emancipated peoples in order to respond to the immense challenges of our time, which are the response to needs in all areas while preserving natural resources and the environment for our future.